GOD'S WONDERFUL GIFTS

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

I expect like me, you're on the look out for the right Christmas presents at the moment and it can be quite a challenge.😊 If you know the person well it's much easier because we know their likes and dislikes.

The lovely thing is God knows us so well, even better than we know ourselves, because He made us, so He knows our needs, our likes and dislikes like no one else does, so His gifts are perfect. 

We're reminded coming up to Christmas that the biggest gift God has given to us all is the gift of His Son Jesus and He gave us the gift of faith so we can believe in Him.

He goes on to say He has given us His righteousness so we can come into His presence and fellowship with Him because He's given us His forgiveness. Along side that He's given us His grace and favour to walk in every day. 

He's given us the victory Jesus won for us over all the works of the devil. Then Jesus went on to say He's given us His peace and given us His joy which will be a fountain of life and strength bubbling up from the inside of us. And that all comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit of God Himself living inside us.

God has given us all so much, but with some gifts we open them up, put them on one side and forget we have them. 

Maybe it's time to take another look at all God has so generously given to us  and say a heartfelt Thank You for all His goodness to us in Jesus. 😊

FOUNTAIN OF JOY

Isaiah 12:3 (Nlt) With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!

This phrase 'fountain of joy' has kept coming up in my spirit the past few days and when I looked it up it actually says 'fountain of salvation'. In a way they're the same thing because our salvation brings us such joy.😊 Our salvation is also a fountain of peace, of love, prosperity, protection and provision and so much more.

When we see a beautiful fountain of water shooting 30 feet up into the air it shoots everything else out of the way as well. It can't become clogged up with silt or litter because it's constantly moving and the force of the water pushes everything else out of the way so the gush of water can come out.

Maybe that's why God used the illustration of a fountain to describe the salvation He's given us. 

Jesus said in John 4:14 that His fountain of life would be a fresh spring bubbling up from the inside of us if we'll just believe it and tap into it. It's for us all and available to us all.

It's like a bubbling spring inside us, bubbling up and washing out all the junk that we might have waded through during our day trying to clog us up. 

Today let's draw and drink from God's fountain of salvation, His fountain of joy and peace, his fountain of healing, well being and abundant life for whatever we need to live a joy filled life 😊 Let's drink from Jesus Himself, our fountain of life who lives inside us. Amen.

THE LORD OF PEACE

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.

As I was reading through the promises list from last week, Promise 41 stood out for me. Based on the above verse it says "I will give you peace at all times and in every situation." That is quite a promise isn't it and how much we need it in today's world and in our daily lives.

No matter what turmoil there may be, what storms are raging personally or internationally, the Lord of Peace Himself has given us His peace, His Shalom.

Part of the meaning of His peace is for us to be whole, for there to be nothing missing, nothing broken. It's like when a brick wall has had one or two bricks knocked out, a crack appears and the wall weakens and begins to crumble. Jesus said He gives us His peace which heals and repairs our walls where things have been knocked out over the past days, weeks or years and He causes us to be whole again, with nothing missing and nothing broken.

So if our walls feel like they've been taking a battering lately, then why not come to Jesus afresh at the beginning of our new week, to the Lord of Peace Himself, and receive His peace into our souls and let Him make us whole again with nothing missing and nothing broken. 

His peace is a wonderful gift to us, one of His promises and He says it's for every situation and for always, at all times. What a wonderful promise to stand on and not let go of.😊 

Lord by faith we receive and release your peace to flow like a river into every part of us in Jesus Name. Amen.

FOREVER PROMISES

Psalm 146:1-2, 5-6,10 (Nlt)

Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord.

 I will praise the Lord as long as I live, 

I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, 

whose hope is in the Lord their God. 

v.6 He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. 

He keeps every promise forever. 

v.10 Praise the Lord!

This psalm starts and ends with the phrase "Praise the Lord!" and in between the Psalmist lists some of the reasons why. It makes a great read. We have every reason to be joyful when we have God as our helper regardless of anything that may or may not be happening in our lives.

God is so much bigger than it all and He's in control of our lives so we can wholeheartedly give Him all our praise because He is worthy of it all. 

The word I heard in my spirit from the Lord as I woke today was "Don't let go of the promises", and did you notice the end of verse 6? - He keeps every promise forever. His promises are not time sensitive, they're not temporary, they don't come and go. No, they are forever. 

I hope that encourages us all today. As we look back at the list of promises we found earlier in the week we can have total confidence, not just that they belong to us and that we've not to let them go, but that they are ours forever.

As the Psalmist says PRAISE THE LORD!😊

WE ARE SO BLESSED

Deuteronomy 28:6 (Nkjv) Blessed shall you be when you go out, and blessed shall you be when you come in. 

Deuteronomy 28:6 (Nlt)Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.

I just felt so strongly from the Lord that He wants us to know and remember He has already blessed us, so that whatever we plan to do today we can go out into our day knowing and believing Him for His blessing in all that we do. Isn't that great?

 

Psalm 139:5 (Nkjv) You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

He tells us in Proverbs 10:6 that blessings are on the head of the righteous and because we are in Jesus He has made us righteous, so we qualify for His wonderful blessings. It's not depending on our performance or good works, it's all because of Jesus and what He did at the cross.

The older I grow the more I'm learning to declare out loud what God says over my life. He tells us in Psalms "Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO." It's the same principle - "Let the blessed of the Lord SAY SO."

What have we been saying lately? Whatever it's been, I hope the Lord has encouraged us all today to go into each new day and to say and believe what He says about us.....

 

"I am blessed going out today, and I'm blessed coming back in. Wherever I go and whatever I do I will be blessed. God's hand of blessing is on my head today and everyday because of Jesus. Thank You Lord! I'm going to enjoy my blessed day in You.😊 Amen."

We are blessed indeed.😊x

GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES

2 Peter 1:4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. v.5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises.... 

This really caught my attention - make every effort to respond to God's promises. Every effort, not just a half hearted, well maybe I will maybe I wont. response. No, it's a strong word from Peter to us all. He's encouraging us to go all out, to not just discover the promises, but to wholeheartedly respond and say "Yes Lord, I know You've said that's for me, so I believe it and I receive it."

He calls them great and precious promises. They're precious because they were bought and paid for by Jesus shedding His blood on the cross for us, so we could have them. How sad if we don't bother to accept what He paid such a high price for, to give us. They're great because we'll be able to share in God's own nature if we respond. How amazing is that and it's for all believers, not just a few.

The Holy Spirit is trying to help us here, helping us to realise what is at our fingertips, for our great benefit and He tells us all the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Jesus. (2 Corinthians 1:20) 

Maybe it's time to search out, not just the old promises we're familiar with, but to discover some new promises and make every effort to respond to them. I know we wont regret it.😊

I found the following PROMISES link which I pray will help and encourage us.

https://crosslakeefc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/365-PROMISES.pdf

NOT PATHETIC BUT POWERFUL

Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. (Nlt)

I've heard Joyce Meyer say "You can't be pathetic and powerful!" and that phrase came to my mind two days ago when I looked in the mirror and thought "Well you look and feel pretty pathetic at the minute" but the Holy Spirit rose up on the inside of me and reminded me that He's inside me so I can't possibly be pathetic because He's the power that raised Jesus from the dead!

Sometimes we forget that fact in the middle of our daily tootling about, don't we, when 'life' conspires against us and throws us a wobbly. So I took myself to task and declared what God says over me in scripture and it went something like this...

'God says I'm an Overcomer by Christ Jesus. He has already given me the victory and He always leads me in triumph, so I'm not defeated, I am in actual fact a Victor. God says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, that He, the Almighty God, is helping me, strengthening me, and upholding me, so I can't possibly be pathetic. He says I'm powerful in Him. Thank You Lord.'

There is far more to us than we ever realise and it's good to have a bit of a reminder that we are sons and daughters of the Most High God and that He is in us.

 He has enabled us to walk in faith and victory, not defeat and depression. He's given us the name above every name, Jesus, to demolish strongholds, He's given us His Holy Spirit to live in us 24/7 -  our spirit man is wall to wall Holy Spirit! He's given us His Word which is sharper than any two edged sword to bring down any high and lofty thing. He's given us access to His throne room day and night to receive all the help, mercy and grace we'll ever need.

So next time we look in the mirror and feel a bit pathetic, let's declare who we really are, declare God's truths over ourselves, grab our shields of faith and put those fiery darts out in Jesus Mighty Name. You and I are Overcomers so let's go out and do some powerful overcoming! Amen.😊

WE ARE HIS PRIZED POSSESSION

James 1:18 ...And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

It's amazing how the word of God can be such an encouragement whenever you need it. The other day I knew I'd be having tests and the night before the Lord gave me the verse in Psalm 112:7 "They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care of them", which gave me so much peace. It's for anyone else reading it too!

May I pass on to you another one that has been such a blessing? It's in 2 Timothy 4:18 Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God for ever and ever! Amen. Do you need delivering from any kind of attack of the enemy, then lay hold of this verse for yourself for it's for each one of us. It says He will deliver us, not maybe!😊

We have to keep reminding ourselves who we are, that God says we are His prized possession so we know He knows everything that's going on with us and He wants us to cast our cares on Him.

So whether it's family concerns, financial difficulties, issues at work or even with a friend, but no matter how big or small, whether it's health troubles or emotional ups and downs, God is our loving, powerful Heavenly Father whose love for us is so big that He wants us to run to Him for comfort, wisdom and provision in every area.

Maybe it's time to start asking big prayers and allow God to surprise us. Not just "Lord help me get through another day but Lord cause me to be healthy and thrive to such an extent I'm an inspiration to others who say 'If God can do it for her/him, then He can do it for me!'"

I think the bigger the prayer the more pleased God is! Not just "Lord save my family member, but Lord save my whole family." Not just "Lord bless me, but Lord let me be a massive blessing to someone else as well.."

Let's not forget we are His prized possession and that He'd like to answer some big prayers because nothing is too hard for Him and nothing is impossible to him who believes.😊

LIGHT IN OUR DARKNESS

Job 22:28 (Nkjv) You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways.

We had a very low lying mist hanging over our area recently which was so thick you could hardly see the end of the road. It was very gloomy to look at and made you wish for a strong wind to blow it away because you knew perfectly well the sun was just above it.

Life can feel like that too sometimes, when all we can see is a thick cloud hanging over us which tries to con us into thinking the sickness, or whatever our ‘situation’ is, is here to stay. But the good news is, the wind of the Spirit is moving and hovering over our circumstances just like at creation when all was darkness. God didn't say "It's so dark out there" even though it was. No! He declared what He wanted, not what He saw. He said "Let there be light" and there was!

God tells us in His word today that He has given us the authority to declare a thing and it will be established for us. In other words to speak His word to whatever darkness is hanging over us and to use our faith and say "Let there be light." 

We're no longer a part of the kingdom of darkness because God has put is in the Kingdom of His Son, which is the Kingdom of Light. Thank God we belong to the light not to the darkness.😊 Jesus is the Light of the world,  He is our Light and He calls us to be Light too.

So if, like me at the minute, you're looking at a situation which 'appears' gloomy, let's allow the Holy Spirit, our Helper, to rise up on the inside and cause us to speak faith, to speak God's light into our darkness and expect God to back us up. He says what we declare will be established!

God says His word is a light to our path so as we declare God's Word and His promises of healing, etc, to our circumstances, we are declaring His Light and His light destroys the darkness. 

Lord by faith we declare a good outcome to whatever situation we are in right now, we declare a turnaround, and we release the Holy Spirit into our darkness and ask Him to bring Your light and wisdom, and thank You for it in advance, in Jesus' mighty name Amen.

GOD IS HELPING US

Psalm 121:1-2.7 I look up to the mountains - does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

God is watching over us constantly. He is with us all the time, in our distress, in our fears and pains, and He's with us in our joys and in our happiness. God is ever present and how very comforting that is, especially in the small hours of the night or at any time for any reason.

When we can't do anything about our circumstances He wants us to know He's doing something. When we feel we have no control over what's happening He says "Rest in Me, let me take over and just keep a thankful heart for all that is well. Keep trusting me to work it out for your good."

The good news is God is working all the time in the background and I'll tell you how I know. Last Friday morning I was asking the Lord if I should be contacting my doctor again as things were not improving. Suddenly the phone rang at 8.40 a.m. and it's the doctor himself saying he'd had a message to say things were worse and he wanted me to come in for more blood tests straight away. Neither of us had contacted him in any way at that point so how did he know? Only God could have done that and prompted him to immediate action.

So you see, God is working in the background supernaturally and we can trust Him to sort it all out and not worry about it. You will have had similar 'God incidences' where you've known only God could have done that.😊

Please be encouraged as we begin a new week, whoever is reading this, and whatever you are dealing with, God is right there with you in it helping you and He is dealing with it.😊

THE VIEW GOD SEES

Psalm 32:8 
The Lord says "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
 I will advise you and watch over you.

Yesterday we thought about enjoying the step we're on at the moment and that led me to think about the view we see from that step. Maybe you live in a city and can only see more buildings, or perhaps you live in the country with sheep in the fields. Either way, our immediate view of our future can sometimes become a bit blinkered and all we can see is  the 'same old', the humdrum, or maybe even more illness and lose our sparkle of hope. 

If your sparkle has become a bit dull lately let me share with you what God sees for each of His children if we'll trust Him and do what He says.

He says He sees a future full of hope, a future where His heart is to prosper us and not to harm us. (Jeremiah 29:11) He says He has prepared blessings in advance for His children to walk into (Deut. 8:7-9) even when we don't deserve it, because His favour is all round us like a shield.(Psalm 5:12 Nkjv)

He says above all things that He wants us to prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers.(3 John v.2)

Now, our part is to meditate on those verses till we believe what God sees and says and agree with Him and let Him bring it to pass in His good time. He wants and needs us to get our sparkle of hope back so we can have faith again for the better days ahead He has planned and to remember it's all because of Jesus.

Be assured, God has good plans for each one of us and the view up ahead is looking brighter. (Proverbs 4:18) I hope that makes you smile.😊

Thank You Lord.

JESUS WITH US EVERY DAY

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Today is an entity all of it's own. It doesn't need to borrow anything from yesterday or tomorrow because God has promised us His mercies are fresh this morning which will cover everything we need, and that His grace will be more than enough to  deal with and overcome anything that happens throughout our coming day. 

The enemy wants us to hash over what we didn't do right yesterday and fret over what might be coming tomorrow but if we'll just learn to enjoy standing on the step God has us on for today and trust Him, Jesus says there's no need for us to worry about anything else. The reason is that God has already gone ahead and He's got it covered and Jesus has already forgiven our sins past, present and future.

Let's enjoy each moment as we find it and not let yesterday or tomorrow steal the joy of God being present with us right this minute.

Sometimes it's good to just stand and thank God He's right there with us, holding us up and preparing good plans for our future because we know that just as Jesus was there for us yesterday, He'll be the same all powerful Saviour all through today and He'll be the same Source of Life and Strength for us tomorrow. 

Thank You Lord Jesus. Help us to be aware of Your presence today. Amen.

Enjoy your weekend.x

GOD SHOWS US HE CARES

Psalm 145:9-10 The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. All of your works will thank you Lord, and your faithful followers will praise you.

 I woke up yesterday morning to a lovely surprise. There on the doorstop was a big box with ready made meals, magazines, a book and cookies for us to enjoy brought by my son in law on his way to work. Our daughter had prepared it all  knowing we'd really appreciate some help right now.

God is full of lovely surprises like that and he uses people like you and me to bring them and make them happen. Isn't that lovely and what a huge 'Thank you' it caused in my heart at the start of the day. God knows when we need some tlc, some moral support, and He cares so much He sends someone to provide it. He shows us He cares. What a blessing to be a blessing, and what a blessing to be on the receiving end.

The only kindness some people will receive is when we reach out to them in some way, to be the hands of Jesus to lift them up and show them His love. 

On top of that we had a phone call from our son in Australia asking how we're doing and that was such a blessing too. Our God is always watching over us, always taking care of us. Sometimes we're not even aware of it but today was one of those when I was, and so grateful for it.

God is good to us - all the time. Do you have a story to share of how God has blessed you recently. Why not tell someone of His goodness and let's give God all the glory He deserves.😊

ONE OF THE THANKFUL BUNCH

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Thank God for thankful people. They're the ones who no matter what's been happening  in their lives they find something to praise God for, instead of telling you all the bad stuff they're going through. I know I've been guilty of it and it has to stop, because there's always a bright side if we'll look for it. 😊

So today I'm on a bit of a mission to try to find something uplifting to tell people. It's like the man who was in excruciating pain in his leg so he kept praying and asking the Lord to heal it. The Lord asked him if he'd ever said thank you for all the other parts of his body that were pain free. He sheepishly acknowledged that he hadn't because he was so focused on what was wrong. From then on whenever he had the pain he'd thank the Lord for the rest of his body that was well and he found the pain began to diminish. 

Scripture tells us praise and thanksgiving defeat the enemy because there's nothing he can do about it and he hates to hear us praising God so he clears off. They are two of our powerful weapons against the enemy.

So maybe you'd like to join me and no matter what troubles us, let's praise our wonderful God for all His immense goodness to us, for the bits of our bodies that are working well, that are pain free, for the strength we have got. Let's be thankful for His promise that His healing is coursing through our veins even when we can't see it, that His joy is deep down on the inside of us if we'll just release it by thanking Him for it.

Let's be one of the thankful bunch today and make people smile.😊

GOD'S FAITHFUL LOVE ENDURES FOREVER

Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His faithful love endures forever.

This psalm goes through a long list of all the things to thank God for and after each statement it reminds us that His faithful love endures forever. It looks like God is saying "I'm going to keep telling you over and over again until you get it!"😊

In a way He's reminding us that no matter what's happening, no matter how we feel right now He just wants us to know that God is still good and His faithful love will endure throughout it all. It will be there from generation to generation, from culture to culture no matter where we are in this world, His faithful love endures forever.

There is nothing, no circumstance in the whole history of mankind down through the ages which has ever been able to change that. Wars, famine, climate change, financial rise and falls, natural disasters, the fact remains through it all that His faithful love will endure it all and He's made it available to each one of us.

This is the same God who invites us into His family through the Lord Jesus, the same God who gives us His gift of forgiveness, righteousness and blesses us continually.

No wonder the Psalmist says "Give thanks" so we can join with him today and say Thank You Lord for all Your goodness to us and that Your faithful love endures forever." Amen.

KEEP WALKING BY FAITH

Luke 18:8 (Amp) "...However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find (this kind of persistent) faith on the earth?"

Persistent Faith! When Jesus comes back I want Him to find me with it, how about you?😊 

We can all have faith for five minutes which is better than none at all, but God wants us to walk by faith not by sight. Walking is a step by step thing and it's ongoing, day by day. It never gives up even when things don't do what we want them to. The Good News is, we have the Holy Spirit with us to help us.

I know I'm in a health battle at the minute and when I focus on the symptoms I can get very down, so I can relate, but can I encourage anyone who has been wandering off the faith path into the 'facts' sight realm, to put your faith shoes on again and keep believing God, keep believing Jesus is our Healer, our Deliverer. 

We don't deny the facts but faith overcomes them because with God all things are possible. This is the victory that overcomes the world - our faith. (1 John 5:4)

God is always encouraging us to keep our eyes on Him, on His Word because there is healing in His word but if we're not careful our hearts can become hard and unbelieving when our heads are more full of what Google or the doctors say, than what God has already said. I'd like to be more full of what God says, wouldn't you?😊

Holy Spirit we ask You to help us today to be Faith Walkers, to keep our eyes more on Your Word than on what the world says and soften our hearts to believe everything You want us to believe. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

WE HAVE A HELPER

John 14:26 (Ampc) But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby) the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name (in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things.  .....

I was asked several weeks ago to make two small cushions for a friend with a bird theme so the other day I had a look at the cloth she'd given me and tried to design something suitable. I just couldn't seem to get my head round it and after a few attempts I realised I'd be better to do it another time!

Do you ever find that? There seems to be a 'right' time to do something and a 'right' frame of mind as well, when there seems to be an anointing on it and everything just flows together and we sit back amazed and thank God for His help.

Or there are the times we've put something aside and suddenly we have a light bulb moment when the Holy Spirit drops a thought into our heads, and there it is, everything falls into place!  I love the fact that the Lord is interested in every detail of our lives and wants to be involved at every level to help and inspire us. No doubt that's why we have inspired works of art and glorious music down through the centuries. 

How amazing that we can be helped by God Himself, the ultimate Creator, the One who knows everything! So as we go into our new week let's keep listening to His still small voice and ask for His inspiration and counsel for every thing we have to do before we even begin to do it.😊

Enjoy a blessed and inspired week.😊

JESUS IS THE ANSWER

 John 10:10 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, 

and have it to the full.

This is one of the key verses in scripture for me as Jesus spells things out for us so we can't get confused.😊 

He knew we might be tempted to blame God sometimes for the bad stuff. I've even heard people say they're sick because God's not pleased with them, or they're suffering for Jesus, or because God is teaching them something. Jesus doesn't say it's any of those, because they're all not true, but He makes it so clear by saying it's the thief, our enemy the devil, whose only purpose is to come and steal from us, kill us or destroy us or our families. 

But the Good News is Jesus is the answer to all that! In contrast He explains His purpose in coming is so we can have His God kind of life, His fullness of life in all areas and the Amplified Bible adds 'till it overflows'. What a wonderful purpose! Jesus came to heal and make things whole and bless every area of our lives till we're overflowing with His goodness and grace. What a picture that paints.😊

Scripture later tells us to give the devil no place, no foothold and to resist Him and he'll flee from us.

So let's rejoice in our wonderful Saviour Jesus, the All Sufficient One, the One who bled and died for our deliverance from all the works of the devil. The One who daily showers us with blessings, who fills our lives with good things till we overflow. Let's give Him all our praise today.Amen.😊

GOD THE POWER THAT SAVES US

Psalm 18:1 I love you, Lord, you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior, my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

All through Psalms we find David saying very similar things. He knew He could never remind himself enough about who God was to Him and where his place of safety was. I think he was probably reminding his enemy as well, that David knew that he knew, that he knew Who and where his strength and fortress was and his enemy could do nothing about it.

We can do the same thing too, especially when we're up against it. God is the same for us as He was for David. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever so we have every reason to feel secure in Him as well.

How wonderful that is, don't you think? 

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

GOD IS AT WORK

Psalm 75:10 (Nlt) For God says, "I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly."

I heard someone quote that the other day and he went on to say that the Lord will break the strength of the wicked illness or whatever wickedness that is troubling us. 

I was so blessed by that as I've been battling Flu for a few weeks. You too may be battling something but God wants to encourage us all today because He will break the strength of that thing whatever it is. He then goes on to say "I will increase the power of the godly", He'll increase our power to get better, the power to overcome, the power to rise back up and be restored.

When I heard that word from the Lord I had two choices. I either say "Thank You Lord, I receive that as from You and believe You for it", or I'm cynical and just dismiss it as being for someone else. But all the promises in the word of God are for His children, His loved ones. They are for you and me. 

The promises of God are "Yes and Amen in Jesus" so if that word speaks to you will you join with me, and let's join our faith together and believe God will fulfil His word that He's breaking wickedness off us and increasing our power to rise above, to receive His healing and restoration, knowing He cannot lie to us and give Him all he glory. Nothing is too hard for God. Amen.

HE CARRIES US IN HIS ARMS

Psalm 68:19 Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. 

Isn't it lovely to know our God is bigger than all our circumstances and always worthy of all our praise. We're probably not aware of it, but our verse reminds us, that God is carrying us in His arms every single day and there's no better place to be.

It makes me think of Jesus our good Shepherd holding one of His sheep close to His chest as He carries it home when it's been lost or hurt or sick. It's a picture of such love and protection, of caring for us especially when we're struggling in some area, of being supported and looked after. Jesus told us He would never abandon us, forsake us or leave us alone or without support. It would be unthinkable for Him to do that, so no wonder we can praise the Lord with our whole heart.

We're praising the One who not only carries us in His arms but who gave His precious Son to take our place at the cross, who forgives all our sins and mistakes, who loves us with an everlasting love and draws us into His family and calls us His own child.  

How amazing that all is and how good to remember it and praise and thank Him afresh today.

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

THE THINGS WE SEE NOW ARE TEMPORARY

2 Corinthians 4:18  while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Lord knew we would face times when we feel so worn down by our circumstances, whether it's through ongoing illness or some other situation in our lives. That's why He constantly reminds us to encourage ourselves in the Lord. As long as we have the Lord in our lives there is always hope of better days up ahead no matter how it looks or feels right now. So keep looking to Jesus and don't let the enemy distract you or tell you to give up.

God says the things we can see are temporary but the unseen things are eternal. Now what can you 'see' right now in your life? because no matter what it is, no matter how depressing and hopeless it seems, God says it's only temporary. 

I know some people who are reading this are really suffering but I trust that gives you some hope today. Your difficult circumstances have an expiry date and God will strengthen each one of us until that date arrives.

May I encourage you with my testimony. Back in 2007 I was seriously ill and the prognosis was not good. Each day I grew weaker and sicker and had no strength, but even though things looked worse and worse every day I learned to say "I am getting stronger, by Jesus' wounds I am healed, Jesus' healing is pouring into my body." I would take a physical step, then I was able to walk the length of the room, then I reached the pavement and so on. I learned to not look at what I felt or saw but to stand solely on God's promise of healing and declare it.

It took a while but I am still here 15 years later, by the grace of God, all glory to Him. Thank You Lord.

So even if things look really bad right now, don't despair, we have a Deliverer, our circumstances are temporary, and He will deliver us in due course. Keep believing and keep trusting. Keep receiving and declaring Jesus' healing by faith even when you can’t see it because it's real and it belongs to you.

HELP IN OUR WEAKNESS

Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.

Are you feeling weak or unwell in any area today, or do you know someone who is struggling? If so, God tells us yet again that we have a Helper who will help us in our weakness and that refers to physical weaknesses as well as spiritual ones. Isaiah tells us Jesus bore all our weaknesses at the cross and thank God for that! It's good to remind ourselves of it though when we're going through it.  

He knows we need help and He supplies it through the Holy Spirit.

Even when we don't know how to pray for ourselves, or others, He says you don't need to be anxious, because the Holy Spirit will intercede for you. God doesn't try to put pressure on us, He's letting us know He's already taken the pressure off, if we'll learn to trust Him to sort it all out for our good in due course. (v.28 )

God knows all our hearts, so be encouraged today, if we're well then praise God for that, and if we're unwell we can relax knowing the Holy Spirit is already on the job and God is always present with us. I am so very thankful for that.😊

Psalm 16:9 I know the Lord is always with me I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

STRENGTH FOR OUR ENERGY GAP

Isaiah 35:3-4 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies, He is coming to save you."

There used to be an old advert on TV that advertised chocolate Mars Bars saying that when you hit an energy gap mid afternoon then the jingle would come in and sing "a Mars a day will help you  work, rest and play!" Nobody had heard of an energy gap till then!!

Well I readily admit we do seem to hit a point sometimes when our energy and strength take a dive and seem to forget to come back up again, but having a chocolate bar every day might not be a good idea!!

Instead scripture tells us to say "Let the weak say I am strong", it says to say "I'm strong in the Lord and in the power of His might",  to "call on the Lord for He is our strength and shield", that "the joy of the Lord is our strength."

No doubt there are many more verses on strength but they all point us away from ourselves to the Lord Himself, who is our source of strength. We can't manufacture it ourselves.

So if or when your strength is at a low ebb at any point this week, take a few moments out and draw on the Lord, see yourself being replenished supernaturally straight from His throne of grace. I know of one lady who used to say "Imagine your head has a lid which is open and see God pouring into you whatever it is you need, then close the lid."  Now you may laugh but sometimes a visual picture helps us doesn't it?😊

God is our source and He's only too willing to supply whatever we might need. His mercies are new every morning, so let's go to Him in faith today and start receiving His fresh supply of new energy and strength. Thank You Lord.

OUR GREAT EXPECTATION

Psalm 31: 19 

How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. 
You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, 
blessing them before the watching world.

If anyone has family or other peoples' children to buy pressies for this Christmas, you’ll know they start thinking about it early! 

I have a friend whose grandkids live in a high rise flat in Hong Kong and as they’re all coming home to Devon for Christmas the excitement is majorly building up already! It’s the anticipation and expectation of good things they know are on the horizon. She lives in an old farmhouse so they know they'll sit in front of a roaring log fire, have a big Christmas tree and all the other lovely traditions their Grandma is so good at providing. 😊

So today I just thought it would do us all good to lift our eyes up and remember we too have great expectation of good things in our future that God Himself has planned and stored up for us. He wants to bring us into those good things we've probably never even thought of yet. 

His heart is to move us forward from where we are now, whatever it feels or looks like, into those prepared blessings He has for us and He'd like for us to have a heart that believes Him for them and looks forward to them with great expectation like the children.😊

Psalm 27:13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living.

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GOD IS HERE TO HELP YOU

Isaiah 41:10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

v.13 For I hold you by your right hand - I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, Don't be afraid, I am here to help you.

Thank God as believers in the Lord Jesus, we're not alone in this life. We have a strong and mighty Helper who has promised to hold us up all the way through till we reach the other side of our troubles. The Lord is so kind because He knows we get fearful sometimes but tells us we don't need to, because He is the one helping us. 

We may not be able to see Him but He doesn't lie and if He says He'll strengthen us, He will. If He says He'll be the one holding us up, then He will, and then when we resist the enemy he wont be able to pull us down because if God be for us, and He is, then who can be against us? 

When God says He'll help us we can rest in that, knowing we have the great power of the One who made the universe coming to our rescue. He is the One who will make a way when we can't see one. He is our Strength and He wants us to know He's here for us 24//7.

Maybe you know someone right now who is facing great difficulties, who needs to be reminded of these verses, that we have a Deliverer who will be there for us through the direst of circumstances and the darkest of nights. Or maybe you, yourself, are needing to hear these verses once again. I know I did. 

If so, as you read them know that the Lord Jesus Himself is speaking right to your heart with great compassion and love and understanding. He says once again "Don't be afraid. I am here to help you. I am holding you up and will get you through this in victory and I am strengthening you right now."  Thank You Lord. 

Have a blessed weekend everyone and if you think any of the Blogs might help someone please feel free to pass them on.😊

GRACE, GRACE TO IT!

Zechariah 4:6-7 ..."This is the word of the Lord to Zerabbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.', says the Lord of hosts. 'Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"

The past couple of days the Lord has had us looking into His grace. So, I asked myself, why don't we use  it when it's for us all?

It's a bit like being given a new car to drive then walking all the way! Or like never cashing in a money cheque that would make all the difference. Our family gave me a cheque to buy a laptop but until I paid it into our bank account I couldn't use it. 

God has put all the grace we'll ever need, our entire lives, in our heavenly bank account for us to draw out, but we have to receive it and use it.😊

There is no sickness or disease, no problem that Grace isn't more powerful than and it's available to the undeserving. That's part of what grace is - the undeserved favour of God.😊 We can't earn it and if we think we deserve it we don't actually qualify - it's for the undeserving, you and me.😊

God says come to receive His gift of grace all the time, any time. Instead of only bringing the need, wandering off and wondering if He's heard us, He wants us to receive the grace before we leave the throne room!

God reminds us in our verse that when we have mountainous problems in front of us, to bring the capstone of grace to them. A capstone is a crowning achievement. Jesus, Who is Grace, is God's crowning achievement so we can shout 'Grace, grace to it!' and know those mountains will become a plain. In other words they have to bow to Jesus and His Grace! He says to shout it not whisper it, think it or mutter it under our breath!😊

So today let's continue to not just rest in His grace, not just soak it up, but let's use it and even if we're not a 'shouty' person by nature, continually shout Grace, Grace to our problems till those mountains come down in Jesus' Name. Amen.

BE A GRACE SPONGE!

Romans 5:17...those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in this life through the One, Jesus Christ.

So what is this grace God invites us to keep receiving? I noticed 'receive' is in the present tense where I need it right now! 

Grace is God's provision for our every need in spirit, soul and body. It includes God's great favour, everything we need is provided for. If we're all alone - there is grace for us. If we're struggling in any area - there is grace for us. If we're sick - there is grace for us. If we have financial difficulties - there is grace for us.

As I was thinking about God's grace after writing the blog yesterday, this thought came to me "Be a grace sponge!"😊

I really like that because it implies we're to soak it up, let His grace keep filling us up throughout the day till we're overflowing with it. When we spill liquid we grab a sponge to absorb it all, squeeze it out, then soak up some more till the problem has all gone don't we? Well I think that's what God is saying to us. 

Bring His grace to our problem, let it soak it up, over and over again where necessary, until it's all gone. Keep going to the throne of grace, every five minutes if we need to, to keep receiving His grace for whatever our need is. 'Lord I keep receiving your grace for healing, I thank You for it.'

Lord show us how to be grace sponges and receive Your help for every problem in the coming days, for Your glory. Amen.

REST IN HIS GRACE

2 Corinthians 12:9 Each time he said, My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.

We all go through different struggles and when they're health issues they can loom pretty big, making us feel low and worn out. But I'm here with good news today because God knows all that and He says He wants us to turn to His grace and to rest in it, especially if we're weak.

Yes the Lord wants us to use our faith, but when our faith for healing is at a low ebb and our strength is weak, His word reminds us that Jesus Himself is interceding for us with His Father. Whatever the state of our health, we can know deep down inside that He wants us to just rest in His grace, to relax and believe God to undertake for us. 

We can be so busy struggling to keep our heads above water that we forget all we need to do is keep turning to Jesus, who is Grace, and remember what He's done for us, and just rest in Him and thank Him for it. 

When it's healing we need, just keep agreeing with His word "By Jesus wounds I was healed" and thank Him that healing is manifesting in our bodies, even when we can't see it yet, even when our bodies are shouting "I feel so unwell!". I know, I've been there and done that and am doing it at the moment.  

When things still look the same and we're weary with waiting and standing in faith can I take the pressure off us today and ask us to just relax and rest in the grace of God. What does that mean? 

It means we say something like, 'Lord, I know You don't lie to me and You say Jesus has healed me in 1 Peter 2:24 so I choose to believe Your words of healing are for me personally. I just rest in You and in Your overflowing grace knowing You are faithful to Your word, You'll never abandon me or give up on me. I believe your grace for healing has already begun in me, that You are restoring me and making me whole.' Amen. 

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and help in time of need.

If you need help today (in any area of life) please receive His gift of grace for it, relax and rest in it.

BLESSED NOT CURSED

Galations 3:13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

If you've ever read Deuteronomy 28 you'll have discovered all the wonderful blessings God promised His people if they obeyed Him but also all the terrible curses that would come on them if they disobeyed Him.

The best news ever is that Jesus has totally delivered us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us on the cross. He took our place in cursing so we can take our place in blessing. In our New Covenant with God, through Jesus' blood, there are no 'if's for us to try to fulfil anymore because Jesus has fulfilled them for us.

If we've ever worried we were under a curse, or read the curses in Deuteronomy 28 and recognised something, we can now turn on the devil and tell him he no longer has any legal right to put any of that on us. We've found him out because Jesus has already delivered us from it all!

I know of one man who read part of the curse was mildew in Deut. 28, and he had mildew in his property at the time, so he turned to Galations 3:13, declared he'd been delivered from it by Jesus, took authority over it and told it to be removed from his house. The mildew was removed!

God's word is very practical if we'll believe it and act on it. We have a mighty delivering Saviour who has delivered us from every curse so we can walk in every blessing.  We thank You and praise You Lord Jesus. Amen.